Law Society keeps its options open

The Law Society will seek final leave of the Court of Appeal next week to take rebel non-lawyer conveyancer Lester Dempster to the Privy Council, even those it still hasn’t decided on whether it will actually take this course.

Saturday, September 8th 2001, 8:52AM

by Jenny Ruth

"All
it is, is the Law Society is keeping its options open. No final
decision has been made," says a Law Society spokesman. If
the society wins final leave, it still isn’t committed to
a Privy Council appeal.

The threat of an appeal has been hanging
over Dempster’s head since April when a Court of Appeal decision
effectively stripped lawyers of their conveyancing monopoly.

The Law Society’s decision to pursue
the case is even though Justice Minister Phil Goff is expected
to introduce legislation this month which will strip lawyers of
their conveyancing monopoly in any case. It will also strip real
estate agents of their monopoly on selling property.

Dempster, a former assistant land registrar
for the government, has been fighting for 13 years for the right
to practice conveyancing in New Zealand.